29 July 2007

"Now take Berwhale the Avenger and go upstairs and wash your hands for lunch."

A Bit of Fry and Laurie seasons 3 and 4 are out!

In other news, there is a bit of melodrama surrounding my quest for a decent condition, shootable Lee Enfield No4. I bought one a while ago and found it to be sorely lacking. The headspace was dangerously out of spec, meaning the gun could cause severe injury to the shooter if a failure occured, and the metal finish was pretty nasty, composed mostly of a protective layer of rust. It looked like some poor Tommy on a troop ship to North Africa had accidentally dropped it over the side ("Whoopsies! Oh, Butterfingers!") and then they fished it out a half-century later.

But I gave it another shot, and this time I got a much, much better looking rifle. It is a 1943 No4MkI that was built at the Birmingham Small Arms factory (as in, BSA motorcycles), like my 1918 No1MkIII* model. It is gorgeous, with a very nice metal finish still, and a well fitted stock with a lustrous, beautiful boiled linseed oil finish. Only trouble? I had this one checked out as well, and guess what, mateys. Too much headspace! Luckily though this one has a bolt head clearly marked "0" which means it can be swapped out for a "1", "2", or "3" bolt head to decrease excess headspace. I have "1" and "2" bolt heads on order now. Once that is cleared up, I'm of the belief this will make an excellent mid-range precision rifle. Well, as excellent as a 65 year old war-horse is going to get...especially with me behind the sights.

I'm getting closer to converting my Saiga Fun-Machine (the magazine fed semi-auto 12-gauge shotgun built on a Kalashnikov pattern) to a pistol grip/folding stock layout. I have to say, I have some fun guns (the Kel-Tec PLR-16 springs to mind) but this shotgun is way too much fun to shoot. Extremely fast cycling and a nice balance. Not a gun for traditionalists and those used to the feel of a traditional shotgun, but it feels perfect to me. Here's about what I'm after: